


Summer '11

by mountain_ash



Series: What We Didn't See [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Drabble, Ficlet, Fluff, Headcanon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-03
Updated: 2016-02-03
Packaged: 2018-05-17 23:32:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5889388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mountain_ash/pseuds/mountain_ash
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What happened during the summer of love?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Summer '11

**Author's Note:**

> Originally on [tumblr](http://stilinskihaleworld.tumblr.com/post/134439882642/summer-11-headcanon)!

I like to imagine that after Lydia and Jackson get back together, Stiles looks for anything possible to distract himself from the disappointment. Once school is over and he doesn’t have homework to keep him busy, he takes to puzzling through the bits of the bestiary that Lydia has been systematically translating. Scott is busy working at Deaton’s to keep his mind off Allison and Stiles can’t very well work on it at home without peaking his father’s interest so he finds himself haunting the Hale house.

He doesn’t go there at first, opting for the library instead, but Stiles hates the library. It’s too quiet and people are constantly giving him dirty looks because he clicks his pen and taps his feet and drums his fingers loudly on the table. The second time someone complains about him to the librarian, she kicks him out and he decides the Hale house is his last option and Derek probably won’t even be there, so he checks out as many of his reference books as he’s allowed and heads over. The thing is, Derek is there and he meets Stiles out on the porch, arms crossed and frown in place, fully intending to turn the boy away, but how can he really? This kid with a distracted best friend (only friend?) and single father who works far too many shifts to be healthy who just watched the girl of his dreams save her boyfriend with true love. This kid with an arm full of books on magical creatures and xeroxed pages from the Argent bestiary wearing a stupidly hopeful grin on his face. No, Derek can’t turn him away.

Stiles sets up shop in the least burnt out room of the house, spreading his papers over a table and stacking his books in a manner Derek is sure makes sense to him and him alone. At first Stiles just works alone and Derek spends most of his time running the preserve and monitoring Peter (along with the Alpha situation Stiles doesn’t know about). A few days in, Derek starts dropping in every few hours and placing some water or a sandwich on the limited empty space Stiles has left on the table top, lingering beside him a few moments to glance at the notes Stiles has made on the various pages.

The first time Derek makes a move to pick up some papers to read, Stiles slaps his hand away for fear the werewolf will ruin his impeccable (non-existent) organization. Derek grunts in surprise and Stiles just looks up at him in shock, praying the werewolf won’t kick him out of his ideal research spot. Derek however just barely grins in amusement and jabs pointedly at a piece of information Stiles had written the hour before.

“This is wrong.”

Stiles holds Derek’s amused eye contact in dismay before abruptly turning away and waving his hand vaguely over his papers. 

“Fine. Have at it.”

Derek picks up the papers and a blue pen (because he understands Stiles’ color system, it’s not that hard) and sinks into the chair adjacent to the boy. The pair sit in silence for several hours, scribbling, swapping pens, glancing at each others notes. Occasionally Derek shakes his head or mumbles an “uhuh” when he catches Stiles writing something out of the corner of his eye and Stiles will groan exasperatedly and maybe kick Derek lightly on the foot, but ultimately he’ll pass the paper over for correction. 

Stiles is usually careful to leave before dinner, not wanting to overstay his welcome, but eventually he and Derek get into a pattern so steady he stops noticing when he’s hungry until one night his stomach growls so loudly that Derek just chuckles and goes to order pizza. They sit on the floor and munch at the greasy delivery as they play rummy and grumble about the various inaccuracies prevalent in modern supernatural lore. 

As the summer progresses they start talking a little more about themselves; Stiles goes first because that’s how it works with Derek. He talks about his mom’s disease and basically living in the hospital until she died and then teaching himself how to cook chicken and mac and cheese because his dad started working double shifts to keep up when her bills started coming in. Derek eventually tell him about his sisters, and shows him one picture of the three of them that didn’t burn in the fire. Stiles even teases him a little about how squishy his cheeks used to be. 

Eventually the summer comes to a close and Stiles finds that he has to go back to school in a day and he doesn’t remember the last time he missed Lydia. While Scott is passed out after Derek gives him the tattoo, Stiles grabs the leftover pizza from the day before and deals them a game of cards.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments always appreciated and come visit me on [tumblr](http://a-mountain-ash.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
